Unidentified: The man is believed to be African and aged between 20 and 30 years old

Detectives are releasing images of a man they wish to identify after his body fell from the under carriage of an incoming flight to Heathrow airport.

Police were called to Portman Avenue, Mortlake, which lies on the south
bank of the Thames, at 8am on Sunday, September 9, following reports that a body had fallen from the sky.

The man has never been identified, but he
is believed to be African and aged between 20 and 30 years old.

The police today released two images of the man, after 'substantial inquiries' failed to
identify the man.

It is thought the man’s body dropped from the aircraft undercarriage as the plane came in to land.

Aviation experts say the man was probably
dead before he hit the ground either because he had been crushed by the
retracting landing gear shortly after the plane took off, or because of
the extreme cold at high altitude.

The man, who was 5 feet 4 inches tall and of slight build, was not a member of air crew or a passenger.

At
the time, residents on the tree-lined road in Mortlake, which is less than ten miles from the airport, spoke of their
shock on finding the body after hearing a loud bang.

One said: '‘It is unbelievable. The first thing I thought when I saw the body was that it must have fallen from quite a height.'

A post-mortem was held at Kingston Hospital Mortuary on September 11 and gave the cause of death as multiple injuries.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

A spokesman said: 'It is possible he was
from Angola as he was found with Angolan currency in his possession and
inquiries have established that a flight from Luanda, Angola was
overhead prior to the body being found.'

The man was wearing jeans, a grey hoody and white trainers when he fell, and he has a tattoo on his left arm of a distinctive emblem with the letters ' Z ' and 'G ' clearly visible.

Detectives initially believed Mr Matada was from Angola as he had the country's currency on him when he was found in the street in Mortlake, pictured

Probe: Forensics were on the scene in the affluent London suburb after the extraordinary incident

Detectives are now working with the Mozambique authorities to try to find his next of kin. They had previously released images of his distinctive tattoo in a bid to identify him

Location: Home: The only evidence left on the scene in Mortlake, south west London, was dark smears on the pavement where the blood was cleared up

A Civil Aviation
Authority spokesman said a stowaway in an aircraft undercarriage was unlikely to survive as he would either be crushed by the wheels after take-off
or freeze in temperatures as low as minus 40C (minus 40F).

He said: ‘The chances of survival for a stowaway are very slim, particularly in the recess of the landing gear.

‘I don’t know of anyone who has survived being stowed away on a long-haul flight.

‘When the landing gear comes down at
the other end, a few miles from the runway and about 2,000ft in the air,
if there is a person who had died they would fall out.’

The discovery came just over a
fortnight after the body of a stowaway was found in the landing gear
recess of a BA plane arriving at Heathrow from Cape Town.

Anyone with information is asked to call officers on 020 8247 7254 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Video: Animated graphic shows how the man may have fallen to his death